Batman's cape-glide is an accident waiting to happen, say physicists

Where would Bruce Wayne be without the batsuit's ubiquitous slick cape? Alive and well, according to physicists at the University of Leicester, who have revealed that the impact of the hero's plunge back to earth after a little lofty cape-gliding would be the equivalent of being hit by a car at 80km/h.

The tragic findings, published in the university's Journal of Special Physics Topics by four final-year masters students, conclude: "Clearly gliding using a batcape is not a safe way to travel, unless a method to rapidly slow down is used, such as a parachute."

The proposed parachute would surely diminish the impact of Batman's stylish flourish when he flicks the cape aside on landing -- not to mention, detract from the terror it instills in enemies when he goes for the full wing span, narrow-eyed bat impersonation, pre-attack.

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Nevertheless, the physics is undeniable.

After accounting for the drag and lift forces acting on Bruce Wayne in flight, the doomed trajectory was calculated. The 4.7-metre wingspan is just half that of an ordinary hang glider and, when launching off an 150-metre-high Gotham city skyscraper and gliding (successfully, the team predicted) for around 350 metres, Batman's velocity would peak at 110km/h before levelling off at a life-threatening 80km/h descent.

The paper does admit that variations in the angle of the glide were not taken into account, and could contribute to a safe landing. However, Batman would need to slow significantly to avoid becoming a messy afterthought for Gotham city's road sweepers.

When the "memory cloth" cape was revealed in Christopher Nolan's

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Batman Begins -- a flexible material that stiffens when Batman passes an electric current through it from microcircuits in his right-hand glove -- the Leicester team knew it would be rigid enough to mimic the aerofoil shape successfully employed by amateur wing gliders. However, its limitations grew clear as the study progressed, and there is little hope the issues will have been remedied in time for Dark Knight Rises. "If Batman wanted to survive the flight, he would definitely need a bigger cape," suggested co-author David Marshall. "Or if he preferred to keep his style he could opt for using active propulsion, such as jets to keep himself aloft. "If he really wanted to stick with tradition he could follow the method of Gary Connery, who recently became the first person to glide to the ground from a helicopter using only a wingsuit -- although he only made it down safely using a large number of cardboard boxes."

We're not sure what's worse -- Batman taking pause between attacks to clamber out of a pile of cardboard boxes, or Commissioner Gordon having to create a new bat signal that more accurately represents Batman's descending shadow, parachute intact.

Quite possibly, the fact that the hardy grappling hook may have to be hung up after 70 years trumps all the above -- the drama of zipping up a skyscraper would be rendered pointless when bystanders have to then watch Batman, stranded atop the building, resorting to taking the stairs.